City lawyers welcomed the first endorsement of a new Commercial Court for London last week by the Lord Chancellor, delivered at a high-profile event for judges at London's Mansion House.

At the annual judges' dinner, Lord Falconer replied to a vigorous speech in favour of the Commercial Court by the Lord Mayor, Robert Finch - a partner with City firm Linklaters - and said he was 'in full agreement with the scheme'.


Praising Mr Finch's lobbying efforts for the new court, he said: 'You have made a massive contribution this past year... You have long been a proponent of the Commercial Court to safeguard the UK's position as a major centre for financial and legal services. I am in full agreement with you.'


The Lord Chancellor said that 'we are moving to develop the site of the Queen's Building in the Royal Courts of Justice for the new Commercial Court. The Commercial Court building will help London keep its reputation as a first-rate legal centre'.


In his speech, the Lord Mayor said: 'I hope that the search for a home for the new Supreme Court will not in any way detract from the need to find our new Commercial Court. This court surely must be our priority in the short term. London badly needs and deserves a world-class building to support its judiciary. And it is fitting that the standards of facilities provided should match the world class quality of our judiciary.'


Tony Guise, the immediate past-president of the London Litigation Solicitors Association and a partner of London-based Guise Solicitors, said: 'This is the first public statement of endorsement that I have heard from the Lord Chancellor. It is a very positive development and shows that we are now finally on line for the building of a new Commercial Court.'


Proposals for a new building involve financing the scheme through receipts from the sale of the existing premises in London, and the relocation of the Central London County Court.


Meanwhile, the Lord Mayor also endorsed the development of a Europe-wide financial services regulatory regime. He said: 'One issue very important to the City is the creation of a single European financial market to enable cross-border trading to succeed in financial services across the 25-member European Union (EU)... Of course EU-wide agreement of these rules is time consuming. But it has to happen and despite all these new rules, they are certainly better than the alternative - 25 separate markets across all 25 countries.'